1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates in general to illuminated instrument clusters in vehicles and more specifically to a compact consolidation of lighted indicators on a single dial or gauge.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Instrument clusters on the instrument panels of vehicles today often use backlighting to illuminate a dial or gauge and the associated pointer. More instruments and displays, such as for navigational, entertainment, radar and the like functions, are becoming increasingly practical and popular. This raises a need for more compact traditional vehicle information displays to allow or provide space for these other components. U.S. Pat. No. 6,382,127 illustrates one attempt to provide multiple information sources on a single dial face. Commonly assigned and co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/824,472, filed Apr. 15, 2004, provides an example of how reflectors on the underside of the dials can be used to distribute light of different colors to various areas of the display surface. But the use of such reflectors does not appear to have been significantly expanded within the art to provide efficient use of backlighting for different types of displays on a single dial or gauge face.
As disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,408,784, a cap fits over a body member of a pointer where the pointer connects to its drive shaft. The cap is molded with or attached to the pointer such that it rotates with the pointer when the pointer is turned by the drive shaft. The cap has a transparent panel just above the drive shaft. Light traveling along the drive shaft illuminates the panel. Graphics or indicia can be imprinted on the panel to provide a lighted display. Since the transparent panel rotates with the cap and pointer, any symbol on the panel would also rotate. This would make any indicator requiring a single or upright orientation, such as a turn signal, impractical. The cap is large relative to the pointer length, suggesting that it would cover a lot of area on the dial face that could be used to present other information. In addition, since the cap member is attached to the pointer drive shaft, it can only act as a hub for a single pointer, severely limiting the ability to use multiple pointers, and therefore a plurality of information displays, on a single dial face.